Studying law in the classroom is one thing. It is a necessity. But applying it in the actual practice is another. There are so many things a new lawyer has to learn, and perpetually learn.
After passing the bar, and reviewing the laws for six months as if there were no tomorrow, a new lawyer is so confident with his knowledge of the law. And rightly so. After coming out from the bar exams, his cells breathe of the laws.
There goes the problem. Laws are frameworks upon which you interpret the facts. But the facts rule. The facts determine the legal characterization. Murder does not become so because of the penal provisions. It is murder because the criminal killed somebody with presence of premeditation or treachery. This is a factual issue which must be established. And after having established the facts, the lawyer must now summon his knowledge of the laws.
The common pitfall of new lawyers is to start with the laws and somehow try to engineer the facts to suit the legal characterization. The reverse should be true. Just read a legal brief of a new lawyer and a veteran. The former is enamored with the laws in his argumentation; but the latter let the facts shape the arguments.
Many a lawyer has passed this earth without sitting at the chair after the court room bar which separates the public from the officers of the court. There are court practices which you do not learn at the law school. Fact is there are trial practices peculiar to each court. Judges have their own way handling court proceedings. Somehow, they are not bound by rigid and inflexible rules.